Being a college student is stressful. You have to figure out in four years (or less) what kind of career you want and how best to achieve your “dream job”. Lets say I want to do Marketing for a Department Store like Nordstrom. How do I stand out as a job applicant? Which classes should I take to be most prepared? Should I specialize in a certain type of marketing? Should I add a minor? Do I need a graduate degree? …. I could keep going on and on. The questions are endless. But, the general point of all these questions is HOW CAN I STAND OUT!

So yet again, I found an article, so let’s dive into it and try to answer these questions. What stuck out to me about this article was the first sentence, “As the field of marketing evolves, marketers must consider how to acquire skills for an automated world and collaborative business environment”. In my mind that right there tells me that this article is going to give me some insight to keep on trend within the ever-changing marketing world. As I read through the article it started to give me some valid insights on navigating the marketing world and discovering which skills and capabilities I need to acquire.

The article mentions 3 main elements.. as per usual I’m going to break them down and add my insight to round out the whole experience!

Shifting Marketing Environment: This one is a more obvious element… TECHNOLOGY! This is where us students have the upper-hand. With an increase in digital marketing and social media content we are able to stay up-to-date on trends without having to do extensive research or workshops. However, where some of us might struggle is with the data side of marketing. This has become a huge trends with an increase in the usage of CRM systems and from this customer experience management emerged. “New roles require more facility with data acquisition and analysis; more expertise in designing and testing new offers and messages; more understanding of the internet as a communication medium, sales channel, data source, app and social network environment.” Any of us at UT (or any other campus) that’s taking Marketing Research knows that it doesn’t exactly come easy to most people. But, its becoming crucial within the marketing industry and offers a great career path. (So I’ll let that idea simmer with you for a bit)

Changing Career Outlook: I’m not going to lie to y’all this part to me was the least relevant, so I’ll break it down quickly. The article is essentially trying to point out the change in job structure. This is largely due to automation. We live in a digitized world where software programs such as SPSS takes out a large portion of work that used to be done by hand. I think it’s hard to predict how this will effect marketing careers but in general we can expect for automation to continue to increase.

Choosing a way forward: I’m going to shorten this part because I think it’s best to get to the point! These points are very important and are up to your interpretation.

Think carefully about what formal training is needed (think grad school? and minors and workshops!)

Invest appropriate time in managing your own personal brand, i.e., what to be known for, what expectations to set for prospective employers and what type of value to contribute to the market (I like to think of this one as blogging, reading articles, networking events etc. anything that gets you involved in your chosen industry)

Plan to acquire information that will help with career management going forward (Find a role model!! Whether it’s a professor, boss, or a blogger.. like me 😉 Find someone that gives you the advice and the support you)

Now that all of that has hopefully sunk in, start applying it to your own life and your own career. Like my original example with Nordstrom, as a UT student some advice would be taking retail marketing as an elective or finding a boutique owner to be a mentor. These are the types of questions you need to ask yourself. Get creative. Find your niche!

Happy President’s Day! Hopefully most of y’all have the day off (unlike me)!

I wanted to post a blog today that’s perfectly relevant to our Presidential celebrations. Don’t worry.. this isn’t a political post! I found a tantalizing (big word right?) article on Forbes and I wanted to share it with you all.

I’m going to use this article to help you see the hidden marketing lessons hiding within this latest Presidential Campaigns. No matter which candidate you supported during the campaign it’s safe to say they each excelled and struggles with different aspects along the way. So, lets learn from them!

There are 4 main lessons that I want to explore with y’all:

Target your Ideal Audience

Social Media can be a Killer

Simple Works Best

Your Email Subject Line Matters

Target your Ideal Audience

This is a pretty obvious lesson in my opinion. Think about it this way – your audience determines everything you do. It determines where you place advertisements and how to best approach that audience. Let’s say we’ve determined our audience is Business Professionals between 30-40 that are on-the-go. In this case would a direct mail campaign be the strongest route to take? No. In this case an E-blast would be more successful for two reasons. One, business professionals rely heavily on emails. Two, it’s the most reliable place to reach someone thats constantly on the go. And in regards to where, well we know our audience is on-the-go so maybe we look into Billboards or advertising in an airport to adapt to their busy lifestyle. The options are endless.. you just need to know which options are going to make your campaign successful!

Social Media can be a Killer

This can be a touchy topic.. but throughout President Trump’s campaign there were some blunders with social media management. This is a very common and easy mistake to make. In general, we often struggle to find the line as to what is and isn’t appropriate for social media. This is crucial for a business though. It’s important that all content and social media is heavily monitored in order to accurately reflect the organization. The lesson here simple is to err on the side of caution and not to make any impulsive posts that could be controversial.

Simple Works Best

When appealing to a mass market simplicity is key! Trump successfully appealed to this lesson with his message of “Make American Great Again”. Whether you agreed with the message or not it was simple and memorable. This helps to create a sense of stickiness to your campaign. It can be hard to convey a complex message in a simple way but it’s an important step.

Your Email Subject Line Matters

Who reads subject lines? Personally I glaze over them.. but in marketing they’re more important than I think our generation realizes. I know I’ve seen from watching my boss sort through emails.. business professionals receive A LOT of email. They need to be abel to quickly sort through them and be able to organize them. This is important for E-blasts. In order to ensure you get the best open-rates possible you need to provide your audience with a short and meaningful subject line that appeals to their curiosity. You don’t want an overly descriptive subject line, you want to tell them just enough to explain to them the subject but also interest them in the content.

My message to you.. there’s a lesson in everything. Break it down, apply it to your situation and most of all.. learn from other’s mistakes.

Let me know what you thought and if this helped!! 🙂 See you next time Marketeers!

So, in my first blog post I wrote about “How to Write Killer Content“, and received a few requests to go deeper into the topic.. so here you go! I wanted to structure it towards college students or people new to marketing!

So, as a visual learner I think the best way to talk about content.. is to show you. Below I’ve made my own graphic to give you an overview of content marketing as a whole. I also included an industry example because I always think its great to relate a concept to the real world.. because let’s be honest its hard to relate to a textbook definition.

Let’s start by reading the graphic.. then I’ll go into more detail!!

Hopefully you just read that graphic and got a better understanding of content marketing as a whole. So, to start.. the definition. The way I like to think of content is that it’s a company’s property. Similar to how you would think of intellectual property. Web designers, graphic designers, marketers etc. all work together to create industry focused content that stimulates a conversation with their audience. Content can be anything from a webinar, to a video game, to infographics and blogs! As long as its unique to a company.. it’s content! It’s important to understand that the purpose of content marketing is not to aggressively market a product. Instead, a company is trying to position them self as a thought-leader, similar to Chipotle’s “Cultivate a Better World” campaign.

Most of us by now know of Chipotle and what they stand for. However, not as many truly know how hard Chipotle works to promote responsibly sourced, non GMO products. They launched their “Cultivate a Better World” campaign with their own content – The Scarecrow, a game and film. If you haven’t watched the film I strongly urge you too because it’s amazingly well done (watch it here)! Chipotle is positioning themselves within the food industry as a thought leader and responsible organization by promoting a cause . When you watch the video they don’t mention their product or any deals they have.. instead they’re advocating for a cause. This makes Chipotle far more appealing and even relatable for a consumer.

So why is content marketing such a big trend right now? Think about it this way..”The average 1970s city dweller was exposed to 500 to 2,000 ad messages a day, [J.Walker] Smith says. Now, it’s 3,000 to 5,000” (citation). Imagine how little you recall when you are subjected to 5,000 different advertisements within a day. I know for me they go right over my head.. they’re just what I have to sit through in order to watch my show. But, with content marketing, instead companies are interacting with their consumers in a positive way.

My advice to you – learn how to create your own content! This trend is hugely important for young professionals and I believe we have an upper hand. Content is distributed through social media.. and we’re all experts when it comes to social media! It’s what we live for.. so why not make a living off of it! Get started now because it’s a learning process! I’ve started by trying to create my own graphics. You don’t have to be a graphic designer.. start like I did, with Canva. It’s an easy tool to make blog and social media graphics and it’s FREE!

A huge part of becoming an adult is branding yourself. It’s crucial to discover who you are and emanate that persona through every interaction, social media post, and aspect of your professional career.

But how do you brand yourself? What is a “brand”? And why is it important? I’m not going to pretend that I have all the answers – but together we can figure it out.

Step One: GOOGLE! My answer to everything is Google because it gets ideas flowing for me! I began my Google search with,“Tips for Branding Yourself” which lead to finding a Huffington Post article with “5 Tips for Branding Yourself for Success”. Three of these really stood out to me

Craft an elevator speech

Become a little famous through social media

Always expand your network

So let’s discuss the first one! Essentially – what’s your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Whether you’ve found your niche within the industry or not one thing you should be able to answer is what is unique about you. It doesn’t have to be perfectly crafted into a neat explanation but you should understand your strengths and what separates you from your competitors. This is pretty common knowledge – but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to do.

What’s my USP? I still don’t know, but I know that some of my strengths stem from my two internships – one past and one current – as well as my international background, confidence in public speaking, and ability to interact with clients. What about you? Jot down some strengths and examples, it can’t hurt.

Next up is my personal favorite. Who doesn’t want to be Insta famous? It’s easier said than done though. But I do disagree with this article slightly. I believe it’s more than just the sheer number of Twitter or Instagram followers you have or even about how many people read my blog.. It’s about quality over quantity. That old saying rings true because when you’re building your brand you want visibility. But the only way to truly gain traction is to target a relevant audience. That’s where you’ll find the most success.

Lastly, your network is hugely important. However, it’s different than your social media network. Your personal network should be about quantity. Of course quality is still important, but when acquiring contacts you never know where you’ll end up in life – so keep your options open!

My Dad is a perfect example an expert networker! As a Salesman he is the epitome of an extravert. He always makes an effort to stay current with his contacts; he doesn’t just collect business cards, he develops relationships. In order to truly establish a network you need to nurture that network – whether that entails reconnecting with old classmates or colleagues – or joining clubs or organizations to help you mingle with local professionals.

Just get out there and make a name for yourself! Want to join my network? Add me on LinkedIn: Jordan Brenner

As my first blog post I really wanted to choose something that I was passionate about. For me, that’s content marketing. I first learned about content marketing in my Intro. to Marketing class. It was the first time I realized that marketing is truly what I wanted to do. So, I started researching how I could, as the title might suggest, write killer content and develop better writing skills to attract my audience. I might not have much of an audience now.. I have my professor (Hi Professor Burton) and my Momma.. but you have to start somewhere.

A part of my research lead me to the book “Everybody Writes” by Ann Handley. There are many lesson I took away from this book. The first and most important one is BYE-BYE to the over-used high school five-paragraph essay. For so long it was engrained in me to write a monotonous and precisely planned out thesis that perfectly outlined the next three paragraphs that was then summed up in a neat little bow of a conclusion. But, in the real world.. that doesn’t happen.

As I read Ann Handley’s book I could see her personality through her writing and that spoke to me more than any other piece of writing I’ve read. That’s how you create content that people will not only read but enjoy. Handley found a real way to relate to her audience. Her humor and ability to keep “trendy” showed me that its okay to write “outside of the box”, in fact its encouraged!

Content marketing is all about creating a conversation – you want to be the thought-leader of your industry and most of all you want to be relevant to your audience. As a college student my relevance comes from my inexperience. I’m learning as I go and growing into this ever-changing industry. Starting with creating my own content – this blog!

Ann Handley quoted Mean Girls in her book.. so naturally I’m going to end my first blog post with a Mean Girls inspired message. To write good content.. you have to find a way to stay “fetch” – keep up with the trends and never stop communicating with your audience!

I wanted to find a specific topic for this blog or one aspect of marketing that I wanted to focus on. But, then I realized I honestly don’t know what that would be. That’s when I stumbled on the idea of tracking my journey and observations along the way.

I want to explore my love for Marketing and analyze trends through a millennial’s eyes. I want to be an approachable voice for incoming college students, current college students, or recent graduates. No matter who’s reading this, my message is the same. Marketing is my passion!

If you can relate to my blog and my posts -THEN AWESOME. If not, I totally understand. Maybe it’ll help if you knew more about me. I’ll give you my short but sweet and awkward list of facts like you’d hear in a speed dating round:

International Business and Marketing student at The University of Tampa

I’ve lived in three different countries (Belgium, England and the good ole’ US of A)